


Tell Me Something - Give Me Hope For the Night

by elletromil



Series: Falling into you [2]
Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Confrontations, Drabble Collection, Fluff, Gen, Light Angst, M/M, Symbolism, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-12 23:28:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7953343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elletromil/pseuds/elletromil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>The War is over and yet, neither of the Folk has come out of it victorious, nor defeated.</i>
</p><p>A serie of drabbles in the Fair Folks 'verse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Before the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> When I posted the first part of Flowers, Thunderstorm and Tranquility on tumblr, I also posted a writer's ask and wrote two drabbles in the verse that I like too much not to share here too now that the fic is posted. If I get more ideas (either by myself, or people sending me prompts *winkwink*), I will probably add more to this, don't be fooled by the completed status, but so far it's only going to be those two drabbles.
> 
> If I do write more, I will of course update the tags if necessary.
> 
> For those wondering the title comes from Winter Song by The Head and the Heart, the song I was listening to while editing FT&T.
> 
> This first drabble was in answer to bendamneron on tumblr that wanted a Before the Beginning

The War is over and yet, neither of the Folks has come out of it victorious, nor defeated.

Looking at the desolation around him, Harry thinks that the only true loser is the Forest. Of course, the near destruction of their home affects all of the Folks, but most of them are too proud to accept that they played as big a role as their counterparts. It would serve everyone right if the Forest were to never heal, if they were to left to wander aimlessly the barren lands in penance for all the horrors that have been committed.

Harry knows he himself deserve no better. The things he’s done, even if most of them in self defense, are enough to make him shake uncontrollably, sick to his very core with himself.

He hears footsteps nearing him, but doesn’t stand from his position on the ground. If they are Winter Folk in search of a new territory, Harry won’t be much of a challenge to their claim. And if they are Summer Folk, well, he’ll accept his fate without regrets.

“You shouldn’t stay out there like this, times are still unsure. Don’t you have a den?”

He’s surprised to be spoken to and shocked when he opens his eyes on a Summer Folk standing a few feet away from him, looking as wary as Harry feels.

“I do… Or at least I did… I am not sure now.” He waves weakly at the bleak lands around them and the Summer Folk offers him a wan smile.

“Let’s see if we can find it and if not, you can stay at mine for a time.”

He steps closer, carefully at first, then with more confidence when he notices Harry doesn’t make a move to attack or even defend himself.

“Why?” Harry asks him when the other man has helped him back to his feet, a cool arm around his waist to make sure he doesn’t fall back to the ground. Because why help a man that had been enemy not days ago? It would certainly be quicker to kill him and Harry certainly wouldn’t fight back.

“Because fighting always seemed incomprehensible to me when learning how to cohabit would be so much simpler.”

They don’t say anything else, even in parting when they get to Harry’s den, still more or less intact, but for the first time in many seasons Harry hopes that the Forest _will_ recover. If a Summer Folk can share the same view on their people as him, then surely, there is still hope.


	2. Dancing Bear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is, unsurprisingly, a dancing bear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This drabble was written for bouncybrittonie who prompted me with "Dance" for the fair folk verse :)

“No. Absolutely not.” Eggsy starts pouting at his categorical answer, there is no other way to define what he is doing. As if that would sway Harry into accepting his ridiculous demand. “I am not dancing with a bear,” he still feels the need to add when Eggsy keeps on looking pleadingly.

“Come on Harry, you’re making JB sad with your refusal,” Eggsy whines softly and it would annoy Harry greatly if it was anyone else. With the young man, he’s just fondly exasperated.

“JB is a bear, he can’t be sad!” As if to prove his point he turns to JB. Unfortunately, when Eggsy stopped dancing with him to convince Harry to join them, the young bear stopped swaying and flailing with what could only have been happiness and is now plopped down onto the ground, looking more dejected than any bear has any right to be.

He makes the mistake to turn back to Eggsy right away, Eggsy who’s looking at him with expectation but also valiantly trying not to show how much this would mean to him. And well, Harry could lived with being snubbed by JB for a bit, because he knows he only has to offer him berries to win his affection back, but Eggsy is another matter entirely. Not that the young man would hold a grudge against him for that petty a reason, but he asks for so very little and it would be such an easy way to make him happy that Harry stops trying to pretend he’s not going to let Eggsy have his way.

“Fine,” he sighs and Eggsy’s laughter echoes in the clearing as he walks to Harry with a skip in his steps to grab his hand and lead him back to JB.

“If you tell anyone, I’ll deny it to my last breath!” He warns the young man and Eggsy humours him with a nod before they start what can only be loosely described as dancing with the bear.

Harry tries to stay stern, but he has to admit, at least to himself, that he is having fun and when Eggsy goes to lean against a tree for a short break, he doesn’t leave JB alone.

“Either I ate those berries by mistake again or Harry is currently dancing with a bear.”

Eggsy doesn’t startle at James’ voice, having felt him approaching for some time already.

“Nah, I can confirm Harry is truly dancing with a bear,” he laughs and claps merrily, because this is just one of those moment when he just has to express the joy he feels lest his heart burst from the uncontainable feeling.

“Merlin and Percival won’t ever believe me,” James grumbles. He can’t even go and fetch them, because if the weather is still relatively cool in Eggsy and Harry’s territory, Summer has been started for a couple of weeks already in the rest of the Forest. The two Winter Folks are fast asleep and the short trip to this clearing could prove fatal to them, especially since they owns nothing except for their furs and he doesn’t think they’d fancy to make the trip naked. Him and Eggsy will have to remedy to the situation… As soon as the spectacle of the ever so serious Harry dancing with a bear stops being funny.

“Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean he’ll want you telling them,” Eggsy says as if offhandedly, but James knows his friend too much by now.

“Blackmail? Kid, did I mention that I love the way you think?”

“Once or twice,” he grins and then hold up his hand in the other Summer Folk direction. “Wanna join?”

James doesn’t hesitate for a second. Making fun of Harry is great of course, but so would be dancing with a bear. No way he won’t do both when he’s offered the chance.


	3. A Warrior's Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Insanereddragon who prompted me with "The first time Harry sees a butterfly"

It’s been a lazy Spring afternoon, the cool breeze blowing making it all too comfortable for their little family to fall asleep under the warm Sun shining on their clearing. Even JB, who is usually at his most active during the early Spring, has decided he couldn’t be bothered and has curled up at their feet.

Harry would have been perfectly content to stay in the Dreamlands until the Moonrise or possibly even until the next Sunrise, but something light landing on the tip of his nose woke him from his nap. Without opening his eyes, he wiggles his nose, hoping to chase whatever it is away, but to no avail.

He would wave his hands at it, but his left one is stuck under Eggsy’s hip and Daisy is holding tightly on the right one. He doesn’t see the point in awaking either of them for something he can easily ignore. Naturally, this is the moment that whatever has landed on his nose decides to flap delicate wings in an annoying rhythm against his lips and the bridge of his nose.

Curiosity finally gets the best of him and Harry opens his eyes. It takes some time before his vision adjust to something so close and for a while, he only sees a great blue-ish blur. As the insect gets more detailed, Harry can’t help but get the feeling it is exuding _mischievousness_ and _smugness_ , as if waking up Harry had been a good prank. Somehow, it feels a bit like being at the end of one of Eggsy’s joke at his expense.

Harry knows it simply cannot be, since the young man is still fast asleep. He could be faking of course, it wouldn’t be the first time he pretends to be asleep to escape well-deserved reprisals, except he’s never quite managed to fake his snoring so convincingly before.

As if feeling it has Harry’s attention now, it takes flight and goes to whirl around Daisy’s head and now he can see that his little girl has been awake all along, eyes riveted to insect.

As it flies further away, Daisy turns to him hopefully and, after bringing her chubby hands to his lips to press a tiny kiss, he lets her toddle after the blue creature.

Harry forgets all thoughts of sleep, preferring to look at Daisy playing with her new friend among the flowers. Not long after, he can feel Eggsy leaving the Dreamlands too, awakened by their daughter’s gleeful giggling. He can feel himself propping himself up on an elbow to look over Harry’s back, leaning his his cheek against his shoulder with a happy sigh.

“Oh, a butterfly. James will probably come for a visit soon.”

From the way Eggsy said it, it is probably one of those tiny bit of Summer superstition, much like spotting a white wolf during Winter is thought to be a sign that a particularly intense blizzard was brewing.

It brings to mind another superstition about the butterflies, imparted to him by Lee a very long time ago, not long after the Wars, before the natural rotation of seasons had started again, before the Forest had started healing.

With how disillusioned he had been at the time, Harry hadn’t cared much about the Summer Folk’s fancy stories about butterflies being the souls of fallen warriors. Harry hadn’t think those who had fallen during the Wars deserved a second chance, even if it was only as ephemeral bugs, but Lee had thought it would be good for them to see, to _understand_ , that there had been another way, that Winter and Summer could accomplish great things together.

It has always seemed a shame that Lee never got to witness the peaceful union between the seasons and their Folks he had always believed possible. But now, looking at the blue butterfly and the Spring Child playing together among the white flowers of their little clearing, Harry thinks he’s witnessing it just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So at first, my idea was for Harry to have some kind of nerdgasm over the butterfly, until I got out my symbolism dictionary and read the entry about butterflies and there was that bit about how butterflies were traveling spirits announcing upcoming visitors (which is why Eggsy thought James would be visiting soon) or that when seen playing among the flowers they were in reality the souls of fallen warriors. So I decided to bring some kind of closure to Lee instead :)


	4. They Were Inflamed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which James doesn't like Harry and Eggsy's friendship at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for the wonderful AnnaofAza who wanted to know more about the Wars or the reactions of people disliking Harry and Eggsy's union.
> 
> Since I didn't think I could do justice to my ideas of what the Wars were like, I wrote about how James reacted the first time he met Harry, since I always considered James would have live through the Wars too. And well, if James ended up becoming friends with Harry and other Winter Folks, let's just say it didn't start that way at all.
> 
> Given the nature of the prompt, this ficlet isn't fluffy like the rest of the 'verse.

If Harry ever needed proof that his reflexes are getting dulled by the time spent peacefully in Eggsy’s company, suddenly being kick to the ground and having a knife pulled on his neck would be a pretty good one.

At the same time, he only has his own bloody stupidity to blame for that one. Letting his guard down during Summer? Being out and about during the hot season in the first place? Sure he’s on more than good terms with Eggsy, but that doesn’t mean that he’s the only one roaming their territory, that no one is going to come around looking to steal it from the young man. And of course if they are to stumble upon a Winter Folk, they won’t be stopping for a nice chat before attacking.

Harry can hear the little voice at the back of his head, the one that sounds strangely like Merlin, already cursing him for being the bloody suicidal idiot that he is.

“What are you doing here, Winter filth? What have you done with Eggsy?”

The pressure of the blade don’t let up, but no blood have been drawn yet, which tells Harry all he needs to know about his attacker. The man, whoever he is, is in perfect control and it would be a mistake to try and fight back.

There’s an upside to the situation however, the fact he asked after Eggsy, which mean that he’s probably a friend who wrongly thought Harry was up to no good. With any luck, they can resolve this little misunderstanding easily and all be on their merry way in no time.

“Nothing, I’d never hurt him.”

The only reason he hears his attacker’s answer (”Lies!”) over Eggsy’s cry is because it is spat against his ear.

“James! What do you think you are doing?! Release Harry now!”

Harry isn’t released even if the blade disappear somewhere in the loose sleeve of his attacker, James if he heard Eggsy correctly, as soon as they are back to their feet.

Now that he can look at him, Eggsy seems positively _enraged_. It would be enough to scare Harry if it wasn’t clearly directed to the man behind him, still holding him with a forearm around his neck.

“James. Release. Him.”

“I don’t see why I should! Don’t you find it suspicious to find him out and about _during_ Summer, in our clothing nonetheless? He could be trying to kill you!” Eggsy opens his mouth to deny the ridiculous accusation, but James doesn’t leave him the time. “We still don’t know what really happened to Lee.”

Now, the last thing Harry wants is an incident that might spark another War, but he’ll be damned before he let such an accusation slide. Without the threat of the blade against his neck, he has no qualms about shoving the Summer Folk away from him. He’s quick to turn around and take a defensive position, his lips curling in a disgusted snarl.

“You may call me filth, you may even think me a monster if you want, we’ve certainly proved we could _all_  be one. But you don’t get to accuse me of something so dishonorable. I might not have had the privilege of calling Lee a friend, but I _respected_ him. I owed him my _life_.”

Before he can truly lose himself to his wrath, Eggsy steps closer, completely unafraid of the effects his cold fury has on the forest around him, pressing a calming hand on his shoulder. Harry opens his mouth, either to spat some more at James or offer the young man his apologies, he isn’t sure, but a shake of Eggsy’s head cuts him off. There is still the same softness in his eyes he always get when looking at him and Harry allows himself to be gently pushed behind Eggsy’s back. He doesn’t need the protection, but where he respected Lee, he _trusts_  Eggsy and it’s currently Summer. He’ll let the Summer Folks resolve the conflict between themselves. He gets to witness Eggsy’s change in expression first however and it is more than disconcerting to see his eyes hardened with anger when they settle on James.

“I’ll always appreciate everything you’ve done for me James, but I don’t need protection anymore, especially not from Harry. If he had wanted to hurt me, he could have done it so many times before and you wouldn’t even know who had done it. I know you fear someone starting another War, but Harry’s the last one who would do that.”

It takes a moment for the other man to answer anything, seemingly too taken aback from the way Eggsy has morphed from a carefree child to an unmovable young man.

“Eggsy… At least admit that the clothes are suspicious.”

From his position, Harry can’t see it, but he’s pretty sure Eggsy is rolling his eyes at that last attempt to sway him into listening to James’ paranoia.

“No, not really. It’s hot right now, especially for a Winter Folk. Of course Harry would be wearing the clothes I made him instead of his furs.”

Whatever James wanted to say, he seems to forget it in his shock at this particular revelation. He stays silent so long that Eggsy starts talking again.

“I’m not asking you to be friend with him. And I mean, I get it if you don’t want to come around again,” his voice shakes a bit at that part, just enough to let Harry know that losing James’ friendship would affect Eggsy greatly and he feels humbled that the young man would go to such great lengths to keep having their few hours of meeting. “In fact, it would probably be best if you can’t accept that Harry is my friend too.”

That’s a dismissal if Harry has ever heard one and judging from the gutted expression he’s sporting, James knows it too. He must know of Eggsy’s stubbornness however, because he doesn’t try to convince him to discuss things further or to chase the Winter Folk back to his den. For a moment, Harry thinks he’ll leave after only having sent him a dark look, but he after a few steps in direction of his own territory, James stops and turns back towards them.

“I think you’re doing a mistake. He might talk of honor, but I’ve seen what they do when given the opportunity.” Before Harry can reiterate that Summer Folk aren’t any better, James continues with a threat. “When you hurt him, you better be ready because I’ll come for you, even if I have to do so in the middle of a blizzard.”

He doesn’t wait for an answer and finally leaves them alone.

It takes Harry a moment before realising Eggsy is shaking from the encounter and he hesitates before wrapping a comforting arm around his waist. Proving his uncertainty wrong, Eggsy just lean into the contact.

“I’m sorry.”

They both say it at the same time and they both answer ‘ _don’t be_ ’ simultaneously. They don’t bother saying more after that, because nothing would be worth it right now. Harry won’t give up Eggsy’s friendship, especially when it would only prove James right, because that would be a sure way to hurt the young man. And no matter how much he tries, Eggsy can’t change his friend’s opinions on Winter Folks if the man doesn’t want to listen to him.

It takes them a long time before they join JB to the river where he’s been amusing himself and even watching the bear’s antics aren’t quite enough to lift there spirits after the confrontation.


End file.
